Current published and available processes for the production of cadmium telluride from elemental cadmium and tellurium tend to use limited quantities of material and considerably long reaction times. These are reported to be required so as to limit the possibility of hazardous, high pressure conditions being generated due to locally high temperatures, which are the result of the highly exothermic reaction that occurs between elemental cadmium and tellurium to form cadmium telluride. Typically, these processes do not permit to obtain a production of more than about few hundreds of grams per day to about 5 kilograms per day. These processes clearly do not allow for the production of more than about 5 kilograms or about 10 kilograms per day.
It is quite apparent that it would be highly desirable to be provided with a substantially non-hazardous method for producing relatively large quantities of CdTe (cadmium telluride) in relatively short periods of time. It would also be desirable to be provided with such a method that can be carried out using a relatively simple equipment. Moreover, it would be desirable to be provided with an alternative to the existing technologies for producing cadmium telluride.